Second Career: Where to begin?

Here's the quick and dirty on my situation:
--I already have a B.A. in French and Int'l Business and an M.A. in Educ. Policy, both from UMD-CP;
--I am 28;
--I am a grants administrator;
--I have been dreaming of switching to nursing for several years;
--I really am not sure how to get started;
--I already have a significant amt of student loan debt.

Given this laundry list, does anyone have good tips for programs that I could pursue in the MD/DC area?

Currently I'm looking at UMB's BSN program -- after what looks to be two years of fulfilling prereqs, which I would do at Montgomery College (?) to save money. JHU's accelerated BSN program looks great, but there is no way I could swing that kind of additional debt.

If you have any ideas or advice, I would LOVE to hear from you - please reply!!

I did a second degree program at Catholic University in DC. I too had a BA in History/Spanish, and a Master's in International Development. There are some loans for nursing students, look on the webpages of the University for those specifics, also, if you join professional nursing organizations as a non nurse, or perspective nursing major, you can have access to scholarships also.

Make sure you have your prerequisits finished before you start the core nursing classes. It is more difficult when you go back as an undergraduate, the Johns Hopkins program is fast and difficult from what I have heard, I do not think you would be able to work. I had to work full time while going to Catholic and it was extremely taxing. But, I did it and now have been a nurse for over a year. The loans can be forebeared if I am not mistaken while you go back to school. I don't know for sure, but I think you can still get other loans if needed.

Hopefully this has been helpful. Good Luck with the process

Oct 18, '07

I am in a similar situation, except I'm married and have a little one. I'm 28 with a liberal arts degree. I've been working in health insurance since I graduated in 2001. I plan to start my prereqs in the spring. I don't have a lot of student loan debt, but hubby does from law school so I can't stomach a price tag like JHU or G-town. So from what I've researched University of MD Baltimore has the best deal in terms of cost. Unless you want to do an ADN program instead of BSN. I really would rather have the BSN. You could also look into an accelerated BSN program. You would start working sooner and some people think it's worth the higher cost.

I would be interested in what anyone else has to say about schools in this area too.

Oct 24, '07

I am in a smilar situation as well. I have wanted to go back to school for nursing for a long time and the holdback for me is how am I going to work full time and go to school. I have to be able to keep an income and go to school. It looks like Northen Virginia Community College has opened up a night and weekend option so I have decided to go for it. They also have an online option for all the didactic courses and then you just attend the labs and clinicals onsite so that might be an option too. The only thing I worry about is I am an out of state student so admissions will give preference to in state students first and it is a very competitive program.

I currently have a BS and and MBA. I have been struggling with getting an associates versus a BSN but I can always get that later. Times a waisting and I need to get things moving so I think this is the best option for me. If it is not too far from you maybe you can look at NVCC.